Of Curiosity and Barrels
by TWINS PWN
Summary: One Year after events of JTH. Aiden's curiosity gets the better of her. After all, if Alex could do it at her age, why can't she? No Spoilers to ending of JTH.


**Disclaimer: We don't own Alex Rider or Any of the quotes or references in this story.  
Based one year after the events of JTH, no spoilers, aren't we clever?**

She knew that there were times that her curiosity got the best of her; it didn't help that her imagination was filled with stories of her eldest brother's 'achievements' mixed with her own superhero ponderings that she finds herself thinking about in boring classes. She would admit to anyone who asked that she did want to be the hero one day; dive in just in time, save the day and then disappear until next time. However, Aiden Alessa Evans (youngest sibling to the (in)famous Alex Rider) also knew that all those reasons had absolutely _nothing_ to do with the fact she had been sitting in a police interrogation cell for coming up two hours and all the police were just friggin' _stupid_.

This was not how her plan was imagined. It was a complete accident (mostly), just a big misunderstanding and _not_ her fault. In fact, she should blame Alex; it was his fault, in all his James Bond glory. But, when she looked over to Officer Pig-Eyes, she knew he wasn't taking any of it.

"So, go over this story one more time". Pigs-Eyes glared up at her from the paperwork spread out on the metal table. Aiden straighten up in her seat and lifted her chin, hoping to look defiant and unfazed. She tried keeping her hands down in her lap, but somehow in the midst of her concentration, she would find herself still chewing on her nails. Pig-Eyes shuffled the papers, stood them up, banged them gently on the table and set them down in the corner in a perfectly straight and orderly pile; he then turned his gaze back on Aiden, giving her his undivided attention.

"Just to clarify, Miss Evans; if you please..." His voice droned like that of an oversized bumblebee.

Aiden exhaled loudly, making a sound mixed between sigh of exhaustion and a groan of annoyance. She flicked her head to the side to remove her blonde bangs (or fringe as her British brother called it) out of the icy blue eyes she had inherited from her mother

"Well,"  
_  
Aiden's day had started rather bland. Get up, breakfast, go to school, ignore or annoy the teachers. She spent most of interval texting Alex as most of her friends were on a field trip for Biology, he didn't answer much. He was probably in class, weird how he had, in the past, broke many laws, but wouldn't do something so little like texting in class. Didn't he understand how bored she was?  
This boredom led her to the mess she was in. On the walk home, Aiden caught sight of something that didn't even look remotely legal. Two men in an alley, hunched shoulders, standing in the shadows, unwanting to be seen. One in a dark jacket was a little shorter than the other. He gave his 'friend' an envelope. Aiden moved closer, sticking to the wall, she hid behind some dustbins.  
The taller man opened the envelope and seemed to count.  
Envelope full of money? Alarm bells rang in Aiden's mind; this really was not a legal encounter.  
She weighed up the idea of leaving them to it or doing the bold thing and catch them in the act and have them arrested. Granted she was only fourteen, a really small fourteen year old, and these were rather big __**men**__. But Alex was only fourteen, her mind told her, and he took down tonnes of bad guys and even went to space._ _That decided it, it was just a couple of dealers, she could totally pull this off.  
Aiden moved closer, she could hear the shorter man talking._

"It's all there, you don't need to count it"  
_He had a strange accent, British but strange. If Alex was here he could had probably told her what part of the country the man was from. Aiden was at a loss, it was all the same to her most of the time. A British accent was a British accent, case closed. Aiden decided to take in his features, just in case she had to describe him later. His face was square(ish ) and sharp set. Blue eyes and dark_ _hair. Strong build. Slightly worrying if a fight was to occur. The other man smirked and looked up at him._

"Nothing wrong with being cautious",  
The Pome, Aiden decided to label him, nodded. He kept his shoulders slouched, hands in pockets, but his eyes were constantly scanning the area. Aiden kept her breathing level and near silent, she didn't want to be spotted. His eyes flicked back to the other man. Aiden decided to take in this man's appearance as well. Not only slightly taller but also slightly older than Pome, whereas Pome looked about mid to late twenties, this man looked about early forties. Greasy hair and pocket marked skin, he definitely was no charmer, he wore a brown leather jacket. Pome started talking again,

"Are you sure this was the appropriate place to do this? It seems a little too open"  
Greaser laughed, a deep smoker's laugh, and shook his head. He closed the envelope again and stuck it in his jacket pocket. He patted Pome on the arm.

"You worry too much my friend, come, we have business to complete"  
They both turned and walked further in to the alley and went through a back door of a building. Neither man had spotted her. She could turn back now. She could turn back, go to the nearest police station, tell them and if they believed her, they will handle it from there. But she didn't want to. Aiden wanted to be able to tell her own stories, like Alex could, like her father and her recently acquired uncle could. She also didn't want to enter the same way those men did. There had to be another way into the building.  
There was a small window open. A long, not very wide window. It was out of her reach.  
Wooden crates under dustbins and an abandoned dining chair on top of that, Aiden balanced precariously in front of the window. She teetered to the left slightly and rested her hands against the filthy wall to regain her balance. If she fell and broke her leg right now she would be so screwed. Aiden closed her eyes and steadied her breathing.  
'She could do this'. Aiden grabbed the window frame and pulled herself up. Her makeshift ladder wobbled again under her. Aiden slipped. The chair disappeared from under her and everything fell with a crash. Aiden winced at the sound. Her legs hung aimlessly. She rested her feet against the wall. Steadied her breathing again and let out a sigh of relief when no one came to investigate the noise she made.  
With pure perseverance and no upper body strength, Aiden pulled herself through the window and through to the other side. She was sure she would be discovering many bruises in the morning.  
She dropped down as carefully as she could on to a stacked pile of barrels in front of these were tall scaffolding. From here, she could see the two men talking about 20 feet from her, completely unaware of her arrival. Aiden smiled to herself, she could totally pull this off. From her place on the barrels, she leapt onto the scaffolding, her momentum carrying her forward. Aiden landed harshly on her stomach, surprisingly she made very little sound. She rolled on her back, and bit her lip to stop a yell. Tears pricked her eye; she was winded. Maybe this wasn't such a good idea.  
A torn, opaque curtain hung pathetically from the scaffolding blocking her from the men's view if they were to look her way. She allowed herself a moment to catch her breath.  
How did Alex do this so often? Would he be mad if he found out she did this?  
Aiden wiped a tear that had fallen and blocked these thoughts from her mind. She had to focus on the task at hand so she could go home. She gritted her teeth and rolled back on her stomach, ignoring the dull throb of pain. She commando crawled to the edge of the scaffolding and peaked through a small tear in the curtain to continue to observe the men.  
Pome was looking through large crates of...something while Greaser watched with a smug look on his face.

"Good to go?" Greaser's voice carried through the building. Pome looked up and gave him a calculating glare. He turned back to one of the crates and pulled out a sub-machine gun.  
Aiden's blood ran cold. She stumbled across arms dealers! This was not good, really not good.  
She was way over her head.  
Pome examined the weapon in his hands, took it apart, inspected it and put it back together. He nodded to himself. He placed it back in the crate.

"Very good condition, I'm impressed. I'll be interested to know where you got them, the last man we went to sold my people duds. It got one of my men killed"

Greaser forced a smile; it looked very fake. Aiden had a light bulb moment; she pulled out her cell phone. She rested on her elbows to balance the phone and started to take pictures. Aiden always hated the sound her phone made to take pictures so it was set on silent. The men didn't know a thing.  
Greaser cracked his knuckles then folded his arms.

"I'm afraid I have orders to keep, I'm sure with further business my boss will relent. For now, you aren't exactly trusted. Nothing personal, just protocol"

Something flickered in Pome's eyes. Aiden guessed that he did take it personally. A moment later he gave Greaser a lazy smile. He turned and lifted a lid back onto a crate.

"Very well, you've been a good host. I do prefer to know who I am affiliating myself with", He turned back to Greaser, who still had his arms folded,  
"Security reasons and all that. If something happens your end I'd rather it not lead to me, surely you understand"

Greaser gave him an _**almost**__ genuine smile.  
"Of course, we are both men of caution but I can assure you, nothing is going to lead this to us"_

'Knock on wood' Aiden thought. Obviously, this wasn't the case as police sirens started screaming from the street. Both men leapt from their skins. Pome pulled out a handgun from his jacket and pointed it at Greaser.

"What did you do? Are you a rat?"  
Greaser paled, clearly the only arms involved in this transaction were supposed to be the ones in the crates. He raised his arms above his head. Pome moved slowly to the exit.

"No, of course not. We agreed to be unarmed!"  
Pome's face was void of emotion.

"Like you said, I am a man of caution"

Aiden decided that it would best to use this standoff as an opportune moment to get away without notice. She was shaking slightly and her hands were pale. She fumbled as she put her phone back in her pocket. She turned quickly, causing the scaffolding to shake slightly. Aiden leapt onto the barrels, her plan to go through the window once more. The barrel shook dangerously underneath her. Just when she thought she was safe, one beneath her shifted. The entire pile collapsed to the ground, taking Aiden with it. Everything hurt, so badly. Aiden was vaguely aware of letting out a yell.  
'Stupid barrels, stupid evil barrels'.  
Aiden heard loud voices, but they sounded far away. Pome and Greaser!  
"No! You leave, I'll deal with this"

Aiden whimpered. Pome was staying. Pome was staying to get _**her**__! Pome was the one with the gun.  
'Oh, God!'  
She was about to die! How did Alex deal with this?  
Aiden heard movement close to her. Barrel after barrel being thrown off her until Pome's face was visible. Instead of anger she saw...Concern? WTF.  
The emotionless mask was gone and a kind, __**worried**__, expression was in its place. His eyebrows drew together, a sign of confusion._

"Are you crazy?!"  
Aiden groaned and sat up slowly. She rested her head against a fallen barrel.  
"I admit, I never actually been tested"

Pome smirked at her. It fell quickly, something flashed in his blue eyes. Something close to recognition. How was that possible? She had never seen the man before.  
At that moment the police barged through the door with guns raised.  
"Step away from the girl, raise your hands!"

Pome instead reached into his jacket! Was he seriously going to bring out his gun? No instead he brought out a badge. WTF!

"Ben Daniels, MI6. Currently working for CIA. Stand down, I'm on your side"  
The police did as they were told. Seriously? Aiden groaned and lay back on the ground; she was never wishing for an adventure again.  
Aiden tried to recall where she heard the name 'Ben Daniels' before, she was too sore to think.  
Ben turned back to her and seemed to examine her. His mouth was set in a straight line.

"Do you have any idea of how much trouble you're in, lass?"  
Aiden just groaned.

"And you didn't think to notify the police at any point?" Pig-Eyes frowned at her.  
Aiden spat out a piece of chewed nail with a _pfft_ as it shot across the table, Pig-Eyes grimaced; she had a sudden urge to laugh.

"Well, when Daniels brought out the machine-gun, it definitely crossed my mind; besides, as it turned out, you guys already knew".

Pig-Eyes, not so subtlety, glared at her from across the table. He clearly was annoyed with her, possibly hated her. Aiden didn't mind, she had that affect on the adult population. Pig-Eyes shook his head.  
"You know Girly; you have a pretty hefty charge against you here".

Aiden examined her nails and nodded.  
"Yeah, well so do you".

Pig-Eyes smirked; obviously, he had decided to humour her. Good, she may not be a field agent when she's older, but she knew how to negotiate.

"MMhmm, I know so", Aiden leant forward and crossed her arms on the table, she looked directly at the officer.  
"You see, you have been neglecting my basic needs, which as the USA being apart of the UN, is party to the Declaration of Human Rights and Rights of the Child; agreements you have been breaking by having me stuck in here for the past two hours. I haven't eaten since lunch, I'm hungry. I asked to use the bathroom thirty minutes ago and I'm still holding,"  
Aiden sat back a little in her chair, "That can be very damaging to my kidneys. I still haven't been given my phone call," Aiden tried not to break her stride, she bit her lips to stop herself from laughing at Pig-Eyes' falling face.  
"And, you have interrogated me for the last two hours, me. A Minor, I'm only fourteen, without a lawyer or a caregiver present,"  
Aiden tutted.

"That is a _pretty hefty_ lawsuit right there Mister Officer," Aiden leant forward again. "Also your case, whatever it was that you were doing, happens to involve the CIA, which in turn, is using a MI6 agent. That's a pretty messy situation you have found yourself in"  
Aiden smiled.

"I think it would be best for both of us if we just let this one slide".

Pig-Eyes grunted.

"I'll get you that phone call".

With that, the man stormed out the room.

...Line Break...

Twenty minutes later, Aiden sat outside the police station; her back against the building.  
"Wad' up, Shawshank", Ben Daniels strode out of the building, a grin plastered across his face, blue eyes sparkling. Now that all potential danger was no longer present, Aiden realised just how attractive the young man was. He sat down beside her and gave her a light punch on the shoulder; Aiden gave him a small smile.

"Nice to see you got all your mess sorted; I, for one, have a lot of paperwork. Don't worry, I'll leave you out of it".

Aiden shrugged.

"Why are you being so nice to me, I'm pretty sure I screwed your whole investigation?"

Ben smiled down at her.

"The entire mission was screwed from the beginning; besides you remind me of someone".

Aiden felt her curiosity spark again, she shifted so she could look at Ben more clearly.

"Really, who?"

"Double A, what were you thinking?"

Aiden grinned as her eldest brother came around the corner; for some unfathomable reason she could have sworn, Ben's grin was bigger.

"Of him". Ben replied.

Aiden flicked her eyes between Ben and Alex. Of course, they knew each other. It was Alex. Alex knew everyone. Alex stopped in his tracks when he saw Ben. A rare, bright smile appeared on his face. Ben stood as Alex strode forward. Alex gave him the biggest bear hug Aiden had ever seen her brother willingly give; Ben even tried to lift him off the ground before roughly ruffling Alex's hair.  
Weird. Alex laughed and shoved him away. The whole interaction reminded her of how her father and Ian were sometimes.

"What are you doing here Daniels?" Alex said it through a breathless laugh. Aiden had never seen him so _bubbly_. Getting weirder. Ben was still grinning. Aiden's cheeks were getting sore watching them.

"I was doing a job for Byrne, which the little lass so rudely interrupted, which the Popo interrupted further", Ben brought his finger to his lips, "I'm currently undercover, so don't tell anyone one. How'd you know it was me?"

He was clearly joking around; Alex shook his head at him. Smile never disappearing from his face.

"Not sure, I think it was Liverpudlian accent",  
Liverpudlian, dammit, she should had known that one. Aiden stood and purposely coughed into her hand.  
The two men (honestly it was weird to think of Alex as a man, but he was eighteen) turned to her.

"Sorry to break up this heartfelt reunion, but can't you two just swap numbers 'cos I gotta get home." Aiden pointed at Alex, "And, he's my ride, soo..." She raised her eyebrows at them.

Ben laughed at her, and nodded.

"Yeah, I have to talk to the boss anyways" He hugged Alex again. "Take your sister home Cub, good luck with the 'rents".  
Aiden wasn't sure whether he was referring to her parents or the Pleasures. She also wasn't sure how he even knew they were siblings.

Alex smiled and waved goodbye, "See ya 'round, Fox".  
Alex looked back at her and his smiled faded slowly. She was right; he would be (and is) mad at her.

"Get in the car Double A, you never answered my question"  
Aiden sighed and moved towards the parked vehicle. How would she explain this to him? She swung open the door and dropped down into the passenger seat. Alex sat down beside her and clicked in his belt. She did the same, she didn't want to be in anymore trouble with Alex; he had a thing about seat belts.

"So?"  
Alex was looking down at her expectantly. She realised he wasn't going to drive until she told him.  
She sighed again.

"I'm sorry Alex, but you always made it sound so cool".

Alex gave her a strange look that she couldn't decipher.

"Are you seriously going to try and pin this on me?"

Aiden jumped in her seat.

"What! No!" She relaxed a little; a dark look clouded her features. "It was entirely on the barrels".

Alex looked seriously confused now, "What? Aiden seriously? You put yourself into that situation, you should have walked straight home and ignored Ben and that dealer. If you had you wouldn't been near those _barrels_, or whatever you're blaming this on".  
Aiden glared at him, weak in comparison to what he could dish out, but still dark. "Would you have walked away?"

There it was, Alex's glare, Aiden squirmed in her seat.  
"You're not me Aiden. We did not have the same upbringing. What if it hadn't been Ben, what if it had been two genuine arms dealers in that room? Aiden you can't fight, look at yourself, no offense but you wouldn't last a second. You would have died," His voice quietened, "you could've died today, for what? Because you thought it was cool?"

Aiden couldn't speak, she couldn't look up at him. If she did she would start crying. She could feel it in the back of her throat.  
Alex sighed and sat back in his seat. He ran his hand through his hair. A sign that he was stressed. He closed his eyes but continued to speak.

"I'm sorry if somehow I misled you with my stories Aiden. I truly am. But you have got to remember that I had very little choice in what happened. I was sent in and I had to survive." He paused and turned to her.  
"Look at me" She shook her head, He sighed, "Look at me".

Aiden slowly lifted her head; his face looked hurt, as if she had somehow betrayed him. As predicted, the tears came. They streamed down her face, her body shook with silent sobs. Alex released his seat belt, and then hers. She allowed herself to be pulled into his lap. He proceeded to run his fingers through her hair in attempt to calm her. She felt a light kiss on the top of her head.

"Please don't do that again Double A, it's not worth it, it is so not worth it. It's not worth the therapy sessions, not worth the scars, not the nightmares, and most definitely not worth losing you" Aiden took a deep breath, she still shook slightly but the tears had stopped.

"I won't do it again, promise" She couldn't see him smile. "Good". He planted another kiss on her head. A pause.

"You're not going to tell mum and dad about this, are you?" She muttered into his shirt.  
His chest vibrated as he laughed.

"To tell the truth, it's Marcus that scares me; I won't say a word, besides I can't say much. I had to spend the night in a cell once".

Aiden lifted her head. "What?"

Alex smiled down at her.  
"Did I ever tell you about the time I hijacked a crane?"

**AN  
A little one shot to get us back into the swing of things, did you enjoy it? If so leave a review.  
There are three main references in this story. One is a movie, another is a TV series and the third is from a well-known YouTube legend. Did you get all three?  
We promise, we are working on JTH; it's just giving us 'issues'; it's a problem child but we love it anyway. Once its behavioural issues are sorted we will put it on display.  
Until next time,  
-Jean &Diana  
Over and out.**


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